Wheel for velocipedes



(No Model.)

D. H. RICE.

WHEEL FOR VBLOGIPEDES.

N0. 348,692. Patented Sept. 7, 1886.

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UNITED STATES.

PATENT ()FFICE.

DAVID HALL RICE, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WHEEL FOR VELOCIPEDES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 348,692, dated September 7, 1886.

Application filed June .31, 1886. Serial No. 205,783. tNo model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID I'IALL Bron, o Brookline, in the county'of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in \Vheels for Bicycles and Tricycles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wheels for bicycles and tricycles; and it consists in certain new and useful combinations and constructions of certain parts thereof, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a wheel-rim and spokes constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same.- Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the tire. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the clamps used to hold the tire in the rim. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of the rim, tire, and clamps when in position for use. Fig. 6 is a side view,partly in section, of the spoke-nuts attached to their ribbon of metal. Fig. 7 is a side View of amodification of Fig. 6, also partly in section.

It is the rim of the wheel rolled out of tubing or formed hollow in the customary manner.

T is the rubber tire, which is, placed in the outer concavity of the rim, as showuin Fig. 5. In order to secure the tire more firmly in the rim I construct the latter with two inwardlyprojectingshortlips,M",extendinghorizoutally over the concavity therein from its upper corners. These short lips form with the vertical inner walls of the riminternal corners on their under sides right angled or slightly acute all around the wheel. Two strips or ribbons of steel or similar elastic material, 8 s, are rolled out of sufficient length to extend around the rim,with external corners, v9".\:,Iitting the said internal corners of the rim, and with vertical portions 8' s fitting the concavity of the rim underneath the tire, and horizontal portions 3 s fitting the grooves t t in the tire on each side. The strips ssfirst have their projecting parts 8 s placed in the grooves t taround the tire, and they and the tire are then sprunginto place in the rim, as shown in Fig. 5, with the corners s .9 under the lips a 12- Any attempt to spring the tire out of the rim by twisting it will now be found to bind the strips 8 s more firmly under the lips r 0' of the rim, owing to the pressure of the rubber produced against their parts 8 s by the twisting motion. At the same time the projections s s of the strips 8 s are free to yield radially inward around the wheel,with the rubber tire under compres sion, and do not form anvils against which the overhanging part of the rubber tire is compressed and beaten, as would be the case if the projections s s were more continuations of the lips 1- r, thus impairing the efficiency of the tire.

In order to introduce the spokes into the hollow rim of the wheel it has been customary to cut away the wall of the rim underneath the tire where each spoke entered the rim and introduce into the hollow rim a nut through this aperture to be screwed onto theispoke. This cutting away weakened the rim seriously, and, consequently, impaired the strength of the wheel. To avoid this I form the nuts n a, Fig. 6, upon a ribbon of metal, a, or braze them upon it so that their centers shall be the same distance apart as the centers of the holes through the inner lower face of the rim which receive the spokesman. I then bore the nuts and tap a screw-thrcadinto thehole exactly in the center of each nut on its lowerside, and at the same angle to the plane of revolution of the wheel which the spoke is to incline-that is, inclining the hole in one nut in one direction, and the next in the opposite direction, to fit the inclination of the spokes, as shownin Figs. 2 and After the hollow rim is rolled out to shape in cross-section, and before its ends are brazed together, I insert the end of ribbon a into the open end of the rim and slide it along until each nut comes opposite its proper hole, when, by passing short screwthreaded wires or segments of spokes into the spoke-holes in the rim like the portions of the spokes shown and screwing them into the nuts,I hold the latter in proper position until the ends of the rim are brazed together. If desired, the ribbon a may also be sweated at one or more points to the rim while in this position. Vhen the rim has its ends brazed together, the spokes may be screwed into the nuts n in the usual way.

In case the nutis to be made to revolve i11- stead of the spoke in inserting the latterin the rim, I insert the nuts in the ribbon at so as to be capable of revolving, and make the holesin the rim on its inner peripherylarge enough to receive the body part of each nut. I then insert the ribbon a into the rim before its ends are soldered together or even before itis rolled into shape transversely, and introduce the nuts into theirrespeetive holes. It is of course understood that the rim is to be rolled into shape transversely from a complete metal tube without any open seam or joint after the rolling process. This method of introducing the nuts n 11 serves to strengthen the rim so as to prevent the lips or from spreading at anyone point and allowing strips 8 s to escape therefrom. V

\VhatI claim as new and of my invention is- 1. The combination of the Wheel-rim provided with inwardly-projecting lips r1, thetire provided with the slots t i, and the metallic strips 8 s, embracing the surface of the tire and projecting into its slots, and interlocking under the lips 1- 1', substantially as described.

2. In combination with the hollow rim formed from a tube by rolling, and provided with a series of holes on one side to receive the 

